Witnesses that were interviewed at the scene said both men were inside the bar with groups at different tables and were participating in a “beer bet” while...
Brian Maldonado was arrested shortly after the shooting and faces charges of murder and operating a vehicle without a front license plate. As of Tuesday afternoon, it was unclear whether he remained in jail or if he has an attorney.
Mesquite police received a call from a witness around 9:51 p.m. stating that a shooting had occurred in the parking lot of Ojos Locos Sports Cantina, located at 375 Rodeo Center Blvd., according to the affidavit. Responding officers found a large group of people surrounding a man, identified as 38-year-old Jose Rodriguez Jaquez, lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to his chest. People in the group were applying pressure to Jaquez’s wound, the affidavit said.Officers administered medical aid and asked Jaquez if he knew who shot him. He said yes but couldn’t provide names, according to the affidavit.Witnesses said both men were in the bar with different groups participating in a “beer bet” while playing an arcade game, and whoever lost had to buy the winner a drink, according to the affidavit.Maldonado invited Jaquez to play, and after losing, Jaquez bought Maldonado drinks and returned to his friend group, according to the affidavit. People from Maldonado’s group began antagonizing Jaquez’s group about not fully paying for their beer, according to the affidavit. The bar’s security guard told police he removed Maldonado and Jaquez from the bar after the argument escalated. People who followed Maldonado and Jaquez outside said Maldonado was “instigating” Jacquez to punch him. Witnesses who followed the two outside told police they saw Jaquez punch Maldonado as he sat in his vehicle, then heard a “loud pop” and saw Jaquez fall to the ground. Police were told Maldonado may have been drunk when the shooting happened.Witnesses reported the vehicle Maldonado was in had fled and provided police with the license plate number. After running a license plate number search, police determined the vehicle was a 2020 Chevrolet Impala and located it in front of Mesquite High School. Officers performed a “high risk traffic stop” and asked Maldonado and the passenger to exit the vehicle. After Maldonado consented to a search, police located seven rounds of ammunition in his back pocket, a black face mask in his jacket pocket, and a gun in the vehicle. Maldonado was initially arrested for a traffic offense and taken into custody, the affidavit said. The passenger was arrested for public intoxication. Police said Maldonado made several unprompted statements about how “he did it” and that he was “punched in the face and panicked.” The passenger said similar things, stating he had been “in a bar fight,” according to the affidavit.According to the affidavit, Maldonado told police he grabbed his gun and cocked it when he saw one of his friends fighting with men outside the bar. Maldonado told police two men approached his car and told him to get out. When he rolled his window down, Maldonado said one of the men punched him and he “became scared” and fired a shot out his window. He told police he didn’t know that he hit someone and that he only saw the man fall to the ground. Maldonado said he told his friend in the car that “I think I messed up” before fleeing the scene. Maldonado told police he didn’t call 911 because he was “overwhelmed and had never dealt with anything like this,” according to the affidavit.When police told Maldonado that the man he shot had died, he replied “oh wow” and said he needed a lawyer.Elissa Jorgensen is a breaking news reporter at The Dallas Morning News. She is a graduate of Texas State University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in English and master's degree in mass communication. Elissa previously reported for the Houston Chronicle and Texas Community Health News.
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